A mouth-watering encounter is in the cards this coming Thursday as the top-seeded Dallas Stars square off with the struggling Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of their Western Conference First Round series. The Stars have been unstoppable at home of late, winning each of their last six games at American Airlines Center. They will look to protect home ice against a Minnesota side that is currently in the midst of a five-game losing streak.
Read on below for an in-depth breakdown of this series opener and while you’re at it, you can check out our Game 1 previews of Chicago vs. St. Louis and Philadelphia vs. Washington.
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Minnesota Wild vs. Dallas Stars Game 1 Preview
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas
When: Thursday, April 14, 9:30 PM ET
Line: Minnesota Wild at Dallas Stars – view all NHL lines
TV Broadcast: NBCSN
Betting on the Minnesota Wild
Bolstering that belief is the presence of goalie Devan Dubnyk. He has been pretty solid for the Wild since the All-Star break, going 14-11-2 with a .912 save percentage. Dubnyk was exceptional, particularly in the month of March where he posted a .927 save percentage. He finished with 32 victories this season, third-most in Wild history.
Dubnyk will need to be at his best against a Dallas attack that ranked third in shots per game (32.0) this season. One guy he needs to watch out for in this series is Patrick Sharp. The three-time Stanley Cup champion collected points in six of his last seven games and has 14 points in his last 18 outings.
For the Wild to record the massive upset in Game 1, they will need to convert their power play opportunities. Minnesota was scoreless on five power plays in its last game against Calgary. The Wild are 0 for 16 with the man advantage over their last six outings. The onus then is on de facto captain Zach Parise to lift up his play this coming Thursday. He has scored just seven goals in 18 games since the beginning of March.
The Wild are 4-6 in their last 10 road games against the Stars.
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Betting on the Dallas Stars
Can the Dallas Stars be stopped? That’s the question on everybody’s lips after their dominating performance this past regular season. The Stars secured the top seed in the Western Conference, finishing with a whopping 109 points this season. Offense has been their main calling card this season with the Stars scoring a league-high 265 goals this campaign.
Spearheading Dallas’ attack is last season’s NHL scoring champ Jamie Benn. He finished with 41 goals this season, the first time a Dallas player has topped the 40-goal mark since Hall of Famer Mike Modano recorded 50 back in 1993-94. Jason Spezza is another player who has excelled for Dallas this season, scoring 33 goals this campaign. They will be licking their chops at the prospect of facing a Minnesota defense that is ranked 27th in killing penalties.
Make no mistake about it, though, the Stars are not by any means a one-dimensional team. They can certainly play on both ends of the rink as evidenced by their impressive penalty killing this campaign. Last season, the Stars were ranked 19th in penalty kill success at 80.7 percent. This year, they are ranked 10th in that particular department with a remarkable 82.3 percent clip. In fact, the Stars have allowed just six power-play goals over their last 22 games – including back-to-back outings of killing six penalties.
The Stars are 4-1 against the Wild this season.
Writer’s Prediction
The Stars ease past the Wild, 5-2.
